KLA’s (KLAC) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Stifel Nicolaus

Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) in a research report report published on Monday, Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a $685.00 price objective on the semiconductor company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on KLAC. New Street Research initiated coverage on shares of KLA in a research note on Monday, December 18th. They issued a buy rating and a $730.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of KLA from $565.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a neutral rating and set a $625.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of KLA from $750.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of KLA from $525.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $641.05.

KLA Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of KLA stock opened at $698.57 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $660.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $567.36. KLA has a 12-month low of $355.88 and a 12-month high of $729.15.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The semiconductor company reported $6.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.91 by $0.25. KLA had a net margin of 27.98% and a return on equity of 107.56%. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $7.38 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that KLA will post 22.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 19th were issued a dividend of $1.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.83%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other KLA news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total value of $2,272,897.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,809,017.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of KLA stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total transaction of $2,272,897.45. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,809,017.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of KLA stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total transaction of $4,947,970.72. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,825,670. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KLA

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,048,728,000. Alkeon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 52.8% in the 3rd quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,156,913 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $530,630,000 after buying an additional 400,000 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,546,308 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,061,469,000 after buying an additional 386,810 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 22.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,074,884 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $759,532,000 after buying an additional 385,420 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 43.4% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 997,778 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $580,008,000 after buying an additional 301,848 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

KLA Company Profile

KLA Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets process control, process-enabling, and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related electronics industries worldwide. It operates through three segments: Semiconductor Process Control; Specialty Semiconductor Process; and PCB, Display and Component Inspection.